When Did Automakers Start Offering A Smokers Package As a substitute Of The Lighter And Ashtray?

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People have been smoking cigarettes for the reason that nineteenth century, and cars have had ashtrays and push-to-heat lighters seemingly since eternally. Actually, there was a time when automakers installed ashtrays for each occupant, and President Franklin Roosevelt had a 1938 Ford that groovily distributed lit cigarettes. 

But things began changing in the Nineteen Fifties, when doctors began looking into smoking’s unwanted side effects and safety concerns, which led to the decline of cigarette use. Increasing awareness of the health dangers of smoking tobacco showed in figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reported that just 11.6% of U.S. adults smoked cigarettes in 2022, a noticeable decline from 24.7% in 1997, and 42.4% three many years before that, in 1965.

The decrease in tobacco use has led to the phasing out of ashtrays and lighters in cars. Chrysler began the trend in 1994 when it announced that its recent Chrysler Cirrus and Dodge Stratus would develop into the primary mass-produced cars not to come back with standard ashtrays. The move also spawned the optional smokers package in cars. Chrysler had discovered that 78% of people that ride or drive cars weren’t smoking. And today, in-car lighters and ashtrays are a number of the wildest features that recent cars do not have. 

So what took the place of the lighter and ashtray in Chrysler’s then-new sedans? The automaker replaced the ashtray with a pop-out cupholder, while the outlet left behind by the cigarette lighter was covered with a removable rubber plug. We’re glad they left the lighter’s power source, since drivers can simply pull out the rubber cover to plug in a phone or other electrical device.

Automakers like Honda followed within the smokeless automobile trend by the early 2000s, and so they began redesigning dashboards and consoles to accommodate cupholders and cubbyholes as an alternative of ashtrays, saving on production costs while satisfying consumer demands. In 2013, Hyundai announced that it was eliminating ashtrays and lighters in its recent cars, and of their place would come standard USB ports for charging devices.

The change is a win-win for the shopper and automaker, as automobile buyers get more storage room for his or her stuff while carmakers save hundreds of thousands. Furthermore, profits may be created from optional “smokers packages,” which range from about $75 to over $500 so as to add ashtrays and a lighter, features that were once standard. For example, the Rolls-Royce Smoker’s Package adds an ashtray and lighter within the front console and in each rear door armrest, all decked within the requisite fancy woods and metals. (Meanwhile, you’ll be able to add these yourself at Amazon or Walmart for much less.)

As for who was the primary to supply a smoker’s package, our research led us to Chrysler. The automaker that ignited the trend of “smokeless cars” was also the primary to make ashtrays optional: Buyers of the then-new Cirrus and Stratus could still specify an ashtray as an alternative of a pop-out cupholder, making Chrysler the primary to unofficially offer a “smokers package” in a brand new automobile.